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Skirt Sports is making a huge move in the women’s fitness apparel world with the launch of “The Sewing Room,” an interactive crowd design section of its website with a goal of including customers and fans in the product ideation and creation process.

Buoyed by the success of its first Kickstarter campaign in October 2015 which featured the Gotta Go Skirt (think easy-bathroom-access), Skirt Sports has realized the power of truly listening to its customers. In four weeks, the Gotta Go Skirt raised over $60,000 and pre-sold over 800 units of a unique, women-centric performance skirt. “This is 2016. The way people shop is changing dramatically. Customers want more interaction with the brands they trust. I am putting our customers in the driver’s seat because they asked me to. That’s why we are the first athletic brand to give women the opportunity to design, promote and fund the products they want,” says Founder & CEO, Nicole DeBoom.

The Sewing Room features a three part process. Share your design. Support designs. Fund your faves. Customers share designs – these can be napkin sketches or professional CAD drawings. If a design is doable; that is, if Skirt Sports has the capability to actually produce the idea, it will be eligible for voting. Skirt Sports will choose up to ten initial designs for voting. If enough fans and customers support a style, it will go onto the funding page where customers will pre purchase products. Once the goal is hit, the product will go into production.

“We are perfectly positioned to execute on this concept from a sourcing and operational perspective,” says President Sarah Vernon-Brunner who has been with the brand since 2006, “In fact, we are also open to being a conduit for other brands that don’t have this capability to use our platform.” Skirt Sports joins the ranks of crowddesign powerhouses in the fashion space, such as premium menswear brand Gustin, user-generated tee shirt brand Threadless, and BetaBrand, a company that has raised almost $30 million proving that the crowd-led design concept can be successful.

In addition to the Sewing Room, Skirt Sports will continue to create seasonal product assortments, including bestsellers and trending styles sold online, through retailers including specialty running stores, Amazon and Zappos, and in-person at its Boulder, Colorado Flagship Store.

For more information on Skirt Sports and its new Sewing Room, please contact Nicole DeBoom directly at nicole.deboom@skirtsports.com – as she said, she wants to hear from you!